Why Video Game Movies Still Haven't Figured It Out Yet

2016 was supposed to be the year that video game movies became viable sources for film adaptation. With the release of Assassin's Creed, it's official, that didn't happen. Neither it, nor this past summer's Warcraft, were able to stem the flow of bad movies based on video games. These movies had great directors, solid casts, and plenty of money. So what is still going wrong?

I love movies, and I love video games. Nothing would make me happier than to see a quality film adaptation of a game I enjoy. However, in order for that to happen, it seems there are still some lessons that Hollywood needs to learn about video games. There are apparently things they just haven't figured out about how to make video games work on the screen. Starting with...

Video Games Don't Follow A Three Act Structure

Modern filmmaking found its stride with the three act structure, setup, conflict, resolution. It's simple, it makes sense, and video games don't know anything about it. While there are certainly some exceptions, video games just don't fit neatly into these categories. At the very least, they have an act two that can last for 20 hours or more. These days, the word "linear" is basically a slur against games. Yet, nearly all movies are linear. For this reason, you can't simply adapt a game's story as written into a film and call it done. Filmmakers are afraid to make drastic changes to a game's ideas because they don't want to upset fans or change what makes the game intrinsically interesting, but the fact is they need to.